As you all may know Norinco's have a rep for good frames and slides, great steel. I got this Almost Stock example and added the magwell, grip and screws. It came with the C&S trigger group, Brown safeties, Novaks etc already done and some reliability work by Don at The Action Works.

My initial thoughts on the gun. The sights, trigger and everything else was first rate work...done very nicely. Frame to slide fit was a little on the loose side for my taste and lock up was just a little loose also.
The blueing was redone and was nice and even. Nice gun....

First shoot...gun wasnt cleaned from purchase as it was on the way home from his house.... From an off hand rest the gun would group around 2" @ 15-20 yds with remanufactured by high quality ammo. I was shooting 230 gr ball ammo. Not bad accuracy but not great either.
The gun shot 100 rnds without a burp or hiccup of any kind...so far so good.

I brought the gun home and every part came out of it....throrough cleaning. I can see why people like these frame/slides....seem very very hard. I noticed the frame rail above the slide stop hole is not cut out, which is a nice touch. Upon my putting the gun togethor I noted that the barrel bushing to slide fit was very loose and tightened up quite a bit when assembled...but maybe not enough.

The barrels bore was great, crown in great shape without a mark. The trigger seemed a little too light so I tensioned the springs a tad...probably taking it from a 2# to a 3-4# trigger, which I prefer anyway. I fit the thumb safety a tad as it didnt click into position as I like but did so with minimal work.

I had a new "drop in" bushing from a previous gun that I hadnt used...so
I gave it a test fit....too tight. Using very fine sand paper and truely testing my paitence...I fit my first barrel bushing. I fit it so it requires some effort to install...."where the hells my wrench"? but goes in and out smoothly and barrel fit is equal to my STI now on the muzzle end.

The gun got its second shoot and the bushing, its first shoot yesterday.

All I can say is "BIG DIFFERENCE"...from the same offhand rest @ approx. 17 yds it will keep a 5 shot group easily in 1" with 230 gr. ball.

The gun functioned 100% again and the bushing gave no signs of binding or stressing the barrel out at all. Slide movement is very smooth as yould would expect with looser fitting gun....although I did stone and polish the rails up a tad also :roll:

All in all this is a nice shooter...the picture is very current with the exception of a Caspian Trick Trigger to replace the Short Vid. trigger,
my long fingers like this better.

Now..the hard part. Do I continue to customize it with front strap work, tightening the frame/slide relation, taking the sharp edges off the slide and frame....or just let it be. I hate decisions.......

I thought you all would like to see the little beast and its turning into a pretty good shooter................Shoot well

you got one tough piece of 1911. i also own a norinco .45. love it. was my first brand new gun. paid $250 for it. shop owner said it was a 'cheap colt knockoff'. that was on a saturday. sunday, i took second place in a small ipsc (stock) match using 230gr lead over the old hercules unique powder in dirty brass. needless to say, i was impressed. my shooting partner, who also was a gunsmith, saw some real potential w these guns. over the years, i slowly added some custom touches to make it MY gun. wilson fixed sights, videcki trigger, edm hammer and sear, eb memory groove beavertail, wilson slim grips, and finally a tightning of slide to frame, bushing to slide, and weld up and recut barrell feet by the late Ron Fitzwater. still use this gun today. even w 3 kimbers, i still take this gun on the town once in a while. oh, relieved the grip frame and put a high dollar treatment on the front strap (read as skateboard tape). comments by the gunsmiths who handled it centered mainly around how hard the steel was.

Norinco 1911's were great and our friends in Canada can still import all kinds of neat things from China. I have heard all sorts of bad things about the Norinco 1911, but never from someone who actually owned or shot one. I think the Norinco was one of the best 1911 clones to ever come down the pike.

I don't have the experience you guys have with Norinco pistols. What do I mean? I bought my first Norinco for $230 on 2/12/1993 and I have never looked back. One of my 'rincos is set up as a target/pin gun and the other as a carry piece. I feel badly that others can't own one and enjoy a great shooting gun with a blue collar price tag. Regards, Richard

Hello, sir. I have a Norinco as well. I did have a gunsmith add high-visibility fixed sights and "home tinkered" the rest of it myself at home.
The pistol continues to be very reliable and was plenty accurate for my needs as it came.

The picture below is how the pistol is configured at the moment except that the stocks are now checkered wood.

I may very well have the front strap serrated or checkered one day, but for now it has some skateboard tape in place.